Ask the Coaches: Dealing with Pain During a Race

Published

July 25, 2008

Q: Pain During a Race: I'm a young runner who has been steadily improving and running pretty fast times for my age in road races. But since our high school track season started, I get to a point in a race where I feel pain and just back off. People are beating me whom I have beaten in the past. What's going on and how do I help correct this?

–Dave from New York

A: Dave,

I am not sure I understand the nature of your pain. If it is muscular or joint-related, your body may be telling you that you need to take some time off to repair and recover. If this is the case, you are almost always better off catching this early as opposed to plowing through and developing a more serious injury.

You may be over-racing or over-training. Improvement in distance running involves two parts, working hard and recovering from the hard work. You need to recover both physically and mentally to move to the next level.